Margie Rathbone expelled from PCS

The PCS has issued a confidential circular (see below) informing the HMRC Group Executive that Margie Rathbone has had her membership of the union "ended".

To: GEC (only)

Colleagues,

Please note that following a recent decision of the NEC, Margi Rathbone is no longer a member of PCS. Central records will be amended accordingly and I shall be writing to the relevant branch to advise to do the same.

Regards,

Peter Middleman
Group Secretary
HM Revenue & Customs Group
Public & Commercial Services Union

Expelled is the word you are looking for comrades. Lets use plain English eh!

Hardly a surprising decision, but why "In Confidence"? Seems bizarre to me, but then the last circular on "Margie Gate" was also not supposed to circulated further.

Only the members are being kept in the dark.

Someone tried to ask about this on the PCS Face Book Page. Oh dear not allowed either. Thread deleted by Cyber control.

Meanwhile the whole issue of the collapse of PCS has started filtering across the Internet as activists return from their hols. Everybody has had something to say. Even Socialist Resistance and there's only one of them in the whole bleeding union.

The exception?

Yeah you guessed it. The Socialist Party!

The very people who control and run PCS have nay a word to say in their first edition of the new year.

Bit of an ironic headline considering what they are having to do in PCS due to their collective political and organisational incompetence.

Never mind.

Just don't mention Liverpool.

Oops...

Je Suis Charlie

The murder of the journalists and cartoonists of the French Satirical Magazine Charlie Hebdo must be condemned by every single person who believes in free speech.

The evil perpetrators of this crime must be brought to justice.

In the mean time this attack must not be allowed to undermine free speech in any shape or form.

We are Charlie!

Remember the victim of Ched Evans

Not being interested in football I had never heard of Ched Evans until the current furore over his attempts to return to the game following his "release" from prison.

I say "release" with inverted commons because it is often forgotten that Evans has only served the custodial part of his sentence and is on licence for the remainder of his punishment. Evans can be sent back to prison at any time should he breach any of the conditions of his licence.

Petitions have been signed by thousands to stop him signing up to at least two football clubs to my knowledge and the arguments continue .

Ched Evans was convicted in a court of law for rape, one of the most serious crimes that can be committed against another human being.

He has shown no contrition and there is even a website (which I point blank refuse to link to) which not only backs Evans but harasses and vilifies the woman who was attacked.

It is his victim that seems to have been forgotten in all this.

According to the Guardian:

While the debate rages, including another petition against him being re-employed rapidly gaining thousands of signatories, the young woman has been unable to proceed with her life. The most recent reports are that she has had to change her identity five times to avoid the internet haters.

Her father told the Daily Mirror that she did not go to her family home for Christmas and she is “living her life on the run”. He said he has complained to the attorney general about aspects of the Evans website which he argues further victimise her.Lets examine that again.

The victim (who was 19 at the time) has had to change her identity five times to escape persecution by Evan's supporters.

Has he ever spoken out against that?

No.

Evans may be on parole but the woman he abused and raped is facing a life sentence unable to even go home for christmas.

Appalling.

Would we allow Rolf Harris back on TV for a show about painting when he is released or Stuart Hall to return to commentating?

The answer would be a very firm no.

Neither should Evans return to football.

Having read the details of what he did I am of the opinion he can never "clear his name" as he claims he is trying to do. Disgusting treatment of a woman with his mates outside laughing and trying to film.

If Evans wants a job, there's plenty he can do without any public profile and if he is to be rehabilitated he must learn humility and take responsibility for his actions.

He can start by making sure that website set up by his supporters is shut down.

And his victim must be left in peace.

Until then justice will not be fully served.

PCS: A failed union

PCS Reps returning to work today will have received the latest missive from Mark Serwotka and Janice Godrich outlining their "bold decisions" to ensure the "financial security" and future of the union. This is a reference to the December National Executive Committee meeting which cancelled the internal elections, authorised the sale of Falcon Road and announced staff cuts.

The circular also says there will be further cuts authorised by the January NEC.

The NEC didn't cut the size of conference so that their decisions could be debated amongst the activists which the leadership think they can win over, since a lot of "ordinary" reps are no longer able to attend in their own time and only the hardcore will turn up.

Meanwhile PCS HQ has been purchased though due to "commercial confidence" we cannot be told which developer has bought the "family silver" until the papers are formally signed. 

Then we will be told. The leadership are going to be "open" about this according to one NEC member.

Makes a change.

When Serwotka talks about "bold" measures the word "panic" should be substituted. They are having trouble getting members to sign up by Direct Debit. A lot of groups showed low levels of sign up according to the figures I saw at the end of November. They haven't improved that much despite the "revelation" of a "conspiracy" by management against the union in the HMRC. Still only one in five or so signed up and a new union to compete with in three or four weeks time.

Not looking good.

From talking to people around the country there is a clear level of resistance to re-signing up to PCS. A lot of members seem content to allow the subs to simply end without causing any fuss. I am still confused by the bizarre feedback from "some reps" that switching to DD is an "equality issue affecting ethnic minority members. Given our pay goes into bank accounts I really cannot see the problem and neither could any BME members in my own office.

Methinks that levels of confidence in PCS are rock bottom. I have also been surprised by people asking me if they should cancel their subscriptions now and have found more than one have already taken the plunge and joined the other main civil service union Prospect. We're talking members here not activists or reps and they tell me that they even save a couple of quid!

Which reminds me. PCS subs are increasing in March not that there's been any particular announcement about this from our "open" NEC.

The attempt of the leadership to solely blame the unions woes on the end of check off doesn't add up.

Serwotkas mishandling of the crisis in SOCA lost PCS a whole department full of members who went and founded their own union. which is why they are panicking about the setting up of a rival body in the HMRC.

The pensions deficit which came to light during the botched merger/takeover talks with Unite cannot be blamed on anything except perhaps bad management. The Independent Left make an interesting point about the growth and chnages to the Full Time Officers in PCS. They muse:

As we understand matters, the sale of the Clapham building will aid PCS in paying salaries and meeting its pension obligations. Yet the PCS leadership has spent a small fortune over its 11 years of union control in paying off full time officers whilst recruiting replacement staff more amenable to itself (and in large part those it is politically close to). It is a spendthrift policy that sees the Union paying out pensions to those it has early retired and lump sums to others whilst adding to the pay bill by recruiting comrades from the Socialist Party......

PCS is supposedly the most left wing union in the country yet it pays its officers salaries of up to £92,000 a year and with commensurate pensions! If the NEC had not year after year resisted IL arguments for a rational PCS pay structure that linked full time officer pay more closely to that of the members then the Union would be on a much sounder financial footing. Becoming a PCS Full Time Officer should be a labour movement vocation not a smart move to get far away from civil service salaries and move to a lifestyle way beyond that of our members.

Now quite rightly we are not allowed to talk about union employees but I thought it prudent to look at the odd case of the former Deputy General Secretary Hugh Lanning.

The leadership allowed Lanning to retire a couple of years early on full pension with lump sum and off he went. Trouble is he didn't retire and ended almost immediately standing for the post of General Secretary of another, smaller union (see here). Lanning lost but did receive the backing of Serwotka during his ill-fated campaign.

That never sat right with me. Lanning still hasn't retired, though his time would have been up last year and is currently the Labour Parliamentary candidate for Tunbridge Wells.

I can't help but think of the famous phrase "Jobs for the boys" when examining all these shenanigans.

Still it doesn't matter what us members think of all this. There will be no opportunity to bring the current Serwotka/Socialist Party leadership to account without an election. Even if there was, well its far too late and anyone trying to takeover PCS would face a nightmare trying to sort out the mess the "comrades" have made.

Seems to me that the die is cast.

A rump PCS will survive but since Serwotka and his motley crew have no credibility, they are all "hot air and no substance I'm not sure whats left will be of any use to members.

An insurance policy without any insurance.

The reason for the failure of PCS is the responsibility of far-left who turned the organisation into an "activists union" rather than a "representative" one.

That strategy was deliberate and outlined at many a PCS Organisers seminar.

Politics first, members second.

No wonder the union has plummeted to these depths of despair.

Not sure many of us would wish to be a part of it any more.

Katie Hopkins: I'm not listening

Cross-post from Eclectic Blue

I have been reading an awful lot of things about Katie Hopkins. I do not pretend to know a great deal about her, if I am being honest. I understand she was a candidate on ‘The Apprentice’, a ‘reality’ TV show I have never seen. She is a columnist for ‘The Sun’, a newspaper I only ever look at when I am at the barber’s. And she says lots of horrible things like, ‘All Scots have Ebola so I hope they don’t bring it to England’. (I cannot vouch for the accuracy of her last remark since I haven’t seen the full text but to find it I would have to search and I am not going to do that.)

Hopkins seems to make a living not through any discernible talent, but by being controversial, by which I mean offensive. Class-ridden, bigoted, unpleasant, spiteful are just some of the words that apply to Ms Hopkins, but then you can apply that to lots of media commentators. Richard Littlejohn, Jeremy Clarkson are other examples of people who pour out right wing polemic, some of which I find very offensive, but that’s my problem, isn’t it?

The likes of Hopkins do often cross the line but that’s what her paymasters at The Sun want her to do, but perhaps their readers are masochistic and enjoy having the piss ripped out of them by a classic Tory snob. Anyway, it’s their choice to buy the paper.

And in a free country, which this remains, just about, we have to accept that people have the right to offend us, that Katie Hopkins may be an unpleasant person with unpleasant views but she is entitled be as obnoxious as she wants, within the law. Whilst I would certainly question that we have a free press, since all of it, except The Guardian, is owned by a rich company or rich individual but that’s neither here nor there. And Hopkins’ odious comments are surely not the province of the police who surely have more important things to deal with?

It doesn’t matter who we are, the right to take the piss and be obnoxious is essential. Whether you are Scot who is offended by Hopkins, or a muslim who is offended by a cartoon, you just have to accept that the right to offend exists in this country.

With Hopkins, the answer is simple: if you don’t like the stuff she writes, as I don’t, then don’t read it. If she irritates you on the TV, then switch if off until she’s gone again. But don’t let her upset you because that is what she wants.

She is the modern day equivalent of the ‘Shock Jock’, the disc jockey who set out to be controversial and so attract listeners. If no one is shocked and offended, Hopkins can disappear to the obscurity she once inhabited. You know what to do to send her there.

Donna Douglas (Elly May Clampett) Remembered

I was saddened to hear of the passing of the actress Donna Douglas at the age of 81.

Donna of course achieved fame as the lovable (and highly eligible) Elly May, daughter of Ed Clampett in the wonderful sixties TV series The Beverley Hillbillies.

I'm sure there will be tributes to her on television in due course. Let's hope they broadcast one of the episodes of the Beverley Hillbillies, a show I grew up watching and was broadcast for nine seasons from 1962 to 1970 plus a special one off The Return of the Beverley Hillbillies in 1981.

2015: The challenges ahead

As the calender turns to a New Year there are questions and decisions to be made. Some sooner, others a little later, but important on both a personal and a political level.

The first and most pressing (for me at least) is the question of what to do about the current and ever escalating crisis in the PCS union of which I have been both a member and Branch representative since it was established following a merger of two other unions.

The news that the National Executive Committee had astonishingly, if not sneakily decided to cancel internal elections at an extra-ordinary meeting the day before everyone went off for the seasons holidays has brought the question of how bad the situation really is inside PCS to the fore.

Over the last year the far-left leadership under Mark Serwotka and the Socialist Party has tried to allow Unite to literally takeover PCS. It was never any kind of merger on the table, just handing the keys over to Len McCluskey.

Rumours about the true state of the unions finances were denied, though the pensions deficit could not be hidden. Then during the summer without any kind of consultation planning permission was sought and obtained for the unions headquarters building in preparation for it's sale. Members only found out by chance and the leadership certainly were not going to tell us.

Secretiveness to the extreme. Why?

The claims that the "political attacks" on the union were the cause of all this just doesn't entirely ring true. The end of "check off" has been on the horizon for about two years now.

Hardly surprising after Serwotka gave the bosses an excuse on a plate with his ridiculous threat of a strike the day before the Olympics started on a ballot in which less than 11% of the members  in the Border Agency had voted.

So no more HQ building. Falcon Road has now been sold. No elections. They cost too much.

And they wonder why the members are not in a hurry to sign up for direct debit.

Under Serwotka PCS has lurched so far to the left that it not only has ended up being more or less a "fringe" organisation in the image of those who control the union, it has also managed to alienate other unions and more importantly a large section of it's own membership.

Political causes before members has been the central call of PCS's leaders. Serwotka seeking to build a new political party hopping around with failed alliances with George Galloway's misnamed Respect Party, the Socialist Workers Party and now the minute Trade Union and Socialist Coalition.

Even as the financial crisis grew or rather came to light the comrades still debated standing candidates at the next General Election.

That says it all for me.

This brings us to the second matter of concern for the New Year. The General Election.

If the opinion polls are to be believed the only thing we are guaranteed is an interesting nights viewing on the television to see how the pundits claims actually turn out.

Neither Labour nor the Conservatives seem set to win the election outright. The reason?

Petty nationalism.

Two competing groups of nationalists, the little Englanders of UKIP and their Scottish equivalents in the SNP may hold the balance of of power between them.

The backward thinking of both groups of nationalists fly in the face of the reality of the modern world. Smaller countries are weaker nations. 

Isolation from the European Community a desire for both the far-left and the far right isn't going to help anybody.

We as a nation need to move forward, not backwards.

Nationalism and Marxism represent an age of dictators that I had hoped the world could now put behind itself.

But no. Their fanatical adherents continue to divide and damage.

The need for a modernised social democracy has never been greater. Labour does not have all the answers and will be far from perfect. But then what party does have a magic wand.

Certainly not UKIP, the SNP or the TUSC.

I want the coalition removed from power. This year.

If we don't, it's not just PCS that will fall. Outside the EU the unions will all find themselves emasculated.

The fall of PCS is a warning of the folly of cultish politics. They have committed collective suicide under the comrades yolk.

So one decision is made. Vote Labour. That was easy.

The other, which is whether to remain in PCS or join another union remains. Not an easy decision to make, but one that does to be made.

There are other unions.

Those of us who remain in the former union known as PCS will have to make a decision sooner rather than later.